We Can No Longer Edit Technical Details on Handmade Listings

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

I have a product that does pretty well on Amazon, but I just got a one star review because a customer did not read the label on the product until she received it and it contains an ingredient she is allergic to. I wanted to edit my ingredients and safety information to make it clear that this ingredient could be harmful to people with an allergy so I went to edit the Technical Details on the handmade page (unique to Handmade listings) and those details are no longer available in the Edit Listing GUI.

I opened a case with seller support (handmade support no longer available?) and in chat they opened a case with the internal team about my issue. I didn’t expect much, but here is what I got:

Hello from Amazon Selling Partner Support,

I understand you are contacting us regarding being unable to edit the ingredients list for your Handmade product (ASIN: B0XXXXXXX).

Our internal team has finished their review and concluded that you will need to download a category listing report, update the ingredient attributes on the file, and upload it again to make the changes to your listing.

Regards.

To help us continually improve, we ask that you take a moment to complete our survey below to tell us about your experience with this specific interaction.

Were you satisfied with the support provided?

Yes No

Thank you for selling with Amazon,

Luigi
Amazon.com Seller Support

So I downloaded the Category Listing Report thinking OK I got this and of course, those attributes are not on the spreadsheet - at all. There is no way to change any of the information including details, ingredients, directions, and safety information. At this point I will be following up on the case and see what happens but a warning to Handmade people - you may not be able to change the Handmade portion of your listings even if you haven’t been migrated yet (we haven’t as far as I can tell as our category is still GUILD_BEAUTY_GROOMING). Even if I wanted to do it via spreadsheet it’s impossible because nowhere on the sheet are the attributes I need to edit. Yes I have enabled all the hidden fields, still no joy.

If anyone knows a way to get this done, let me know, but I don’t think anyone here has had to do this yet, I’m kinda of just warning everyone that I haven’t found a way to do it yet. I’ll keep you all posted but I expect to be run in circles by support since they obviously don’t have any clue (surprise!).

Just wanted to vent a bit here I guess.

-Ana

[doilyboutique444]

Can you put it in the description?

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

I could do that, but there is a picture of the ingredient label in the product photos. It seems kinda redundant when it should actually be in the safety information. While I do want to put a warning there for legal reasons, I don’t want to blast it out that there is some “bad” ingredient in the soap when the percentage of people who would be affected is probably less than 1%.

-Ana

[doilyboutique444]

Slowly, we are losing all things special to handmade. Even production time.

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

I’m afraid you may be correct. I see almost all advantages of being in the program disappearing with the exception of the fee waiver, and I don’t expect that to last much longer either. If the recategorization really increases my visibility, I will be happy, but I’m not counting on it.

I just sent a reply to the case email, so we’ll see what solution, if any, they have for the fact that the attributes don’t exist on the spreadsheet. As far as I’m concerned, they can just remove that information from my listing and make it the same as the market side where there is no requirement to list ingredients for the product. At that point, people will have to look at the photos to know what is contained in the soap if they are concerned about what is in the product. I’m good with that as it’s very clear in my photo, and if the don’t read it, basically it’s on them. I am not changing my formula for less than 1% of the population. I could offer the same product without that ingredient, but that would compromise the quality of the soap and it’s too much trouble for so little number of people who may be affected. This is not some dangerous chemical, or hazardous substance, but a common oil found in many items. This customer never should have ordered the product if she had paid attention to the listing in the first place. I know you have heard that before. I only have this kind fo stuff happen on Amazon. I have 100% good reviews everywhere else. </rant off>

-Ana

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@Best_Handmade_Soaps

attributes are not on the spreadsheet - at all.

Amazon has had a history of hiding columns on the excel sheets. Read the column letters across the top as they should be in alphabetical order. If a letter is missing in the order, then that column is hidden. You can unhide the columns that are hidden by right clicking the column next to a hidden one and select Unhide. Repeat process for all hidden columns.

To unhide columns in Excel, right-click the column headers on either side of the hidden columns and select Unhide from the shortcut menu. Alternatively, select all columns by clicking the Select All button (the intersection of the row and column headers), go to the Home tab, click Format in the Cells group, and then select Hide & Unhide > Unhide Columns.

Hopefully, this will help.

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

@Best_Handmade_Soaps

Yes I have enabled all the hidden fields, still no joy.

I have already done this and this should be an entire section of the spreadsheet - completely missing.

-Ana

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Sorry … missed reading that …

Do you have an old excel template that had the attributes on it?

If so, have you tried using that excel template to update?

Amazon is doing a beta that allows for you to have it in your own format.

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

I just got access to the Category listing report and unfortunately don’t have an older one. The AI thing looks scary to me as the possibility of screwing up your listing seems incredibly high knowing the accuracy of Amazon’s AI bots currently. I’m hoping they just remove that section after the migration. I don’t really need the extra details, but having them there is a liability in this case.

-Ana

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Maybe someone here on SAS has the excel template with the attributes on it that you need and could send you a blank copy?

{{{ Just a shot in the dark … but hey? }}}

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

Great idea. Maybe @doilyboutique444 has one that she could share with the old attributes. She would just have to remove all the product info and send me the blank template, then I could insert my info into the spreadsheet and upload. If it doesn’t work at least we tried.

-Ana

[doilyboutique444]

Mine are gonna be different because my category is different.

But I don’t think thats a good idea. Amazon has programmed their computer to see… say Candle first (first column). Every other column after that is programmed to go in a certain spot in candle listings. Like scent. That would not apply to my category of table_linens. I have Fabric content in a column. That does not apply to candles.

[Amazon_Seller]

Maybe you don’t have to blast that the ingredient is bad. Maybe just say that it has that ingredient. Sort of like, “Product contains peanuts.” The people who are allergic will get it. The rest don’t care.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@doilyboutique444

say Candle first (first column).

There is a way to change that.

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

@doilyboutique444

Mine are gonna be different because my category is different.

Exactly. I didn’t even think of that. For now, I have a bit of a workaround, larger picture of the ingredient label. When I created the listing I had a slightly different formula and this ingredient wasn’t in the soap so it’s not listed, BUT there is a picture of the back of the box with ingredients clearly readable.

I’m debating if I want to reopen the case or just wait for them to migrate the listing. I don’t really think it will affect sales even with the bad review, and the chances of it happening again are really slim so I may just wait. Don’t really want to muck up my description or bullet points with a safety warning drawing attention to something that’s uncommon (like peanuts).

-Ana

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

OK @Lost_My_Marbles I found the blank template by going to upload a product using spreadsheet, and searching for the GUILD_BEAUTY_GROOMING template and I got a blank one.

Now the question is what minimum fields do I need to populate to do an update on that ASIN, or do I have to populate ALL of the ones from the Category Listing Report?

The other question I have is there are 3 fields for Ingredients (screen shot below). Do I put one ingredient in each or do I just populate one field with the ingredients list? There are many fields with duplicates like this, but none that I need except the ingredients field and safety info, which only has one entry.

I’m going to try this on another listing before I do my best seller just to make sure it works so any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated!

-Ana

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@Best_Handmade_Soaps

Now the question is what minimum fields do I need to populate to do an update on that ASIN

There is a grouping of attributes at the beginning that will be under one color up in the heading. The needed attributes will depend on the excel file being used, but the first grouping by color in the header are the ones that are needed for that excel template.

Remember to select PARTIAL UPDATE as the “Record Action” (or on the older excel files it is called “UPDATE DELETE”).

@Best_Handmade_Soaps

Do I put one ingredient in each or do I just populate one field with the ingredients list?

You do not need to use every attribute available. There should be a tab labeled “Data Definitions”. Look at that tab for “Ingrediants” to see the instructions and any character limit for the attribute.

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

OK, got the template done and uploaded but got back some warnings and I think I know why. This test SKU was labeled as GENERIC back when they tried to force everyone into brand registry in Handmade and I entered our brand in that field instead. It will be interesting to see if that sticks, or if it creates a new listing. In this particular case I would probably be happy if it created a new listing as this variety hasn’t sold well lately and I only have 3 in stock in FBA. Of course if they create a new listing, there won’t be any FBA inventory under the new listing, but that’s OK. Here is the upload report I got back:

I’m actually excited because if I knew it was this easy I would have been doing this all along and it’s easy to spot inconsistencies and missing information in some of my listings. I’m chomping at the bit to fix them, but will probably hold off until they migrate us to the marketplace format. We will have to edit some fields anyway so that will be a good time to do it I think.

Thank you for all your help @Lost_My_Marbles and @doilyboutique444 ! If the update doesn’t work I’ll just do a full update as some old threads here indicate partial usually doesn’t work.

Funny thing the ingredients field is not even required and doesn’t exist on the new template. This lady was quite bent out of shape that this oil (not peanut, much less common) was not listed in the ingredients, but there was a clear picture of our trade dress with the label readable in the photos. As we know nobody reads, but in this case she read the info and never looked at the photos carefully. Well I’m not upset about the review, most people don’t really care about her issue unless they’re affected. It bumped me half a star, but I have had listings rebound from that and it didn’t affect sales much.

If this works out, I’ll mark your post as the solution @Lost_My_Marbles , just waiting for Amazon’s lethargic processing.

-Ana

[Best_Handmade_Soaps]

Wanted to report back that the update WAS successful including getting rid of the “GENERIC” brand for those Handmade people who may not have been migrated yet it actually works with the old template. You must download a blank “GUILD” template. You can get the exact category from the Category Listing Report, and then search for the template in catalog–>ad products via upload–>spreadsheet tab–>download blank template. You want to select “List products that are not currently in Amazon’s catalog” under the template selection and then search for the “GUILD_XXX_XXXX” template that fits your product. Then you fill in the required fields and do a PartialUpdate. Worked for me.

-Ana

[Image]

@Best_Handmade_Soaps

I have a bit of a workaround, larger picture of the ingredient label.

I was thinking of that, another picture to illustrate the ingredients that someone could be allergic to. Like the peanut example above but I am sure it is something else.

Good to know you found a way to work around it AND you got rid of the Generic Brand!